Statistics cannot lie.

[cpwigan]

I would say an average age of 23 is a very healthy team / club. Players peak earlier with perhaps props being an exception between 23-26. You do have to be wary of asking 16-19 year olds to play SL though. It is amazing the difference a little more experience makes post 19 with logan, Tuson showing that. Liam Faz too.

We are VERY SKINNY on outside backs though.

[DaveO]

With time on my hands and nothing better to do I've just gone onto the Club website and added up the age of the team which played last night.
Even with the two 'old men', Richards and SOL our average age of the 17 on the field was only 23.5. I would suggest that with a bit more maturity we could have the foundation of a good side here in another couple of years and then for several years.

And in the meantime?

I prefer Jam today, not Jam tomorrow.

It should be a cause for concern that we have such an inexperienced side. Compared to how we managed player turnover in the past what happened to give us the side we have now was a cock up.

I don't understand why you consider the squad situation a cause for concern?

Sorry but what don't you understand when I say "It should be a cause for concern that we have such an inexperienced side. "?

We do have an inexperienced side as Ian's stats illustrate and I think that is a concern - which is what I said.

I think the squad has been better managed and is a better shape than it has been in a long time. Wigan have managed to replace both half backs without any major concerns, Smith and Green have settled in very well.

Well I don't understand how you can say it's been better managed than it has been for a long time when we end up losing Fielden, Lima, Finch, TL and Carmont in one go. That was a cock up plain and simple.

I am not sure how well those two have settled in has got to do with the sides overall lack of experience which is what I was on about. The fact we had to replace both half backs at once was far from ideal anyway and I would say both need to improve on what we have seen so far particularly Smith. Of the two Green looks to be the better buy.

Losing Hock and the injuries to the forwards has stretched the squad but the younger players have done well and Farrell has defiantly stepped up to become one of the best second rows in Super League.

The young players have done well but as Wane says himself he wants to take them out of the firing line. If we remain unlucky with injuries I doubt they will be looking as good at the end of the season.

Carmont is hard to replace but there is plenty of competition for the centre spot.

Given Goulding is a shoe-in that competition is between two inexperienced players, Thornley and Hughes one of whom isn't even a centre.

It is harder to sign players from the NRL at the moment. Warrington, Leeds and now Salford compete to sign the best players from within Super League so its not a straight forward as buy your way to the title any more....and even that has been shown not to work, anyone remember 2006?

Tell Mr Koukash he can't buy his way to a title. If we can't compete for players with Warrington, Leeds and Salford then we have a serious problem. As to 2006 one of the main reasons that went badly wrong early on was Milward playing very inexperienced sides!

Who else would you want to see at Wigan or how else would you want the squad to be managed?

The squad needs to be managed such that you do not end up as we have losing a shed load of experienced players in one go. I think this is obvious. The fact we did was bad planning pure and simple. Unforeseen things like Hock are not the issue.

As to who I would want here I would have matched Hudds offer for Fielden for a start recognising we could do with his experience given who else had left. Yes there would be some risk given his injury record but then having an inexperienced pack is a risk as well. I would have been after a centre to replace Carmont (Leeds snagged a good one) as having Hughes as no. 4 is just a compromise.

The fact we knew Carmont would leave and yet we ended up with Hughes as No. 4 is a pretty good illustration of poor squad management. If Thornley cements himself in that slot it will clearly luck not judgment given he wasn't first choice replacement.

I think the implication that there was no one available is far from the truth.

[Owd Codger]

When is it going to sink in that some of the "experienced" players were only interim signings while we produced our own young class players.

Not done Leeds much harm over recent season's when they did exactly the same a decade or so ago when they also got rid of some "experienced" players and put nine players from their academy which included Sinfield, Burrow, McGuire, Jones-Buchannon, Bailey, Diskin, Calderwood etc. From that time, the Leeds squad has only included around four or five oversea's signings with most of the players coming from within the club with the occasional signing from another club.

Like I have said before, the days of having a team of outside established star signings like we had prior to 1996 have gone for ever now that we have a low salry cap, rising salaries and more money in Union and the NRL.

Oh, ye of little faith!

[DaveO]

When is it going to sink in that some of the "experienced" players were only interim signings while we produced our own young class players.

When you are going to realise you just can't make stuff up to argue a point?

The idea they were interim signings is complete fantasy on your part.

Players given three year contracts are not interim signings.

In any case if they were how come we had to sign two new half backs in the absence of the class players we were supposedly producing while the experienced players kept their seats warm? Are Smith and Green also interim signings? Are Taylor, Flower and Dudson? Lauaki was given a three year deal with an option of a fourth. How interim is he?

We have signed quite a few players in the last two seasons and I am sure at some point we will sign others but the idea any of our signings have been interim is just silly.

I can only think of two instances when we made really interim signings which were Dobson and the Aussie forward Ian Graham several years ago. We knew we only had Dobson for the rest of the season back in 2006 but signed him anyway. Graham was on a one year deal that everyone knew was a one year deal.

Like I have said before, the days of having a team of outside established star signings like we had prior to 1996 have gone for ever now that we have a low salry cap, rising salaries and more money in Union and the NRL.

This is another thing you keep mentioning that has got nothing do with it. We are in competition for players with the other SL teams and it is how we build and manage the squad relative to theirs that counts.

You are implying people think we can just wave the cheque book and sign whoever we want from the NRL and given no one thinks that so God knows why you keep mentioning it.

[Owd Codger]

Dave0

When Leneghan bought the club, the strength of not only the first team but also the strength of the reserves and academy was not up to the normal standard of the Wigan club, thanks to Whelan and Lindsay.

That is why over the period he has owned the club, he signed a number of overseas and players from other club's while the club built the Reserve and academy back up to the standard we expect.

The result being the squad we now see and in accordance with the money situation of a low salary cap, rising payments to players and more money in Union and the NRL.

So like the majority, enjoy the game and support the teams!